Roger Sloan's father knows best, off the course

Canadian Roger Sloan drives his ball out of the rough at the Canadian Open at the Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver in 2011.

Photographed by:Mark van Manen, PNG

VANCOUVER - Roger Sloan says his journey to next week's final stage of PGA Tour qualifying school has been made even more special by the fact he has been able to share it with his father.

Curtis Sloan carried his son's bag in the first two stages of Q school and will be there again at the six-round finale, which begins next Wednesday in La Quinta, Calif.

"It's always family first with me," Roger Sloan said this week. "I love to share all my experiences with the people I love most in the world. I am excited about sharing this experience with my dad."

Sloan, a 25-year-old Merritt native who attended the University of Texas-El Paso, survived the second stage of Q school last week in Houston, where he tied for 12th to advance to final stage.

Now he gets the chance to play for his PGA Tour card and at worst will have some status on next year's Web.com Tour.

"Golf has been one of those things that has brought my dad and I close together, not that we weren't close beforehand," Sloan said. "But we talk about golf a lot. He loves golf and plays every chance he gets. For him to be in this environment, he absolutely loves it."

Both of the Sloans say parking that father-son relationship at the first tee is the key to making their on-course partnership work.

"For me, as a father I am very excited for him, but when I am on the golf course and caddying for him I really have to shut off my parenting instincts," Curtis Sloan said Tuesday from his Merritt-area woodworking business. "So from that perspective I manage the pressure and anxiety quite well on the golf course because I don't have my parent hat on. I've got a job to do. But at the same time I won't fool you, when you come off the 18th green it's an exciting feeling."

Sloan will join his longtime friend, Abbotsford's Adam Hadwin, at final stage next week. Hadwin advanced by finishing in the top 40 on the Web.com Tour money list. Five other Canadians are in the field, including Mitch Evanecz, a University of Victoria product from Red Deer, Calgary's Ryan Yip and Ontario natives Matt Hill, Richard Scott, and Brad Fritsch.

Fritsch already has his PGA Tour status locked up for 2013 by virtue of finishing 18th on the Web.com Tour money list, but will be looking to improve his position at Q school.

WAITING GAME: Chilliwack Golf Club's Brad Clapp is already PGA of B.C. player of the year. He'll find out later this week whether he's also going to win the PGA of Canada's Mike Weir player of the year award.

It all depends on how Quebec's Eric Laporte plays in this week's Club Pro Championship of Canada in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Clapp leads the player of the year race with 100 points, with Laporte second with 92. If Laporte finishes in the top five this week, he'll overtake Clapp, who is not playing in the event, and win the award.

With a number of players still on the course Tuesday, Laporte was tied for fourth place after his second round in the 72-hole event.

JONAS HONOURED: Clapp was named player of the year by the PGA of B.C. last week. Highlights of his 2011 season included a four-shot win at the PGA of B.C. Championship at Crown Isle Golf Resort in Courtenay. He also won the PGA of B.C. Assistants Championship at Vernon Golf Club by nine shots when he fired rounds of 63 and 64. And as the 51st seed, Clapp also made it all the way to the semi-finals of the PGA of Canada Championship in Calgary.

Other PGA of B.C. award winners included Hazelmere/McCleery pro Phil Jonas, who was named teacher of the year, and Jeff Wiggins of Mountain View Golf Club in Whitehorse, who was named golf professional of the year.

Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam, which did such a fine job of playing host to the CN Canadian Women's Open this past summer, was named facility of the year.

BEAR MARKET: The 36 holes of golf at Bear Mountain in Victoria will soon just be 27. The resort, which has faced financial struggles in recent years, wants to chop nine holes and use the land for housing.

The Victoria Times-Colonist reported last week that the original Mountain course would lose holes three through eight, as well as 11, 12 and 14. Modifications would be made to other holes. Some of the holes on the Valley course would be renumbered to establish two nine-hole courses that loop back to the clubhouse.